school project, any ideas?

i have to make a Rube Goldberg project for my science class.

( if u dont know what it is click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtVkzgKObv0

note: the video above is far more then i need, below are deatails from the sheet we recieved.



your rube goldberg machine could do one of the following:
- begin by droping a marble into the machine and end it having the marble ring a bell
- begin by droping a marble into the machine and end by burstin an inflated ballon
- begin by dropping a marble into the machine and end by squeezing toothpase out of a tube.

you may choose a diferent talk but have it aproved by teacher.

Your machine needs to include a minimum of 5 different steps from start to finish, each step utilizing some principal of physics ( newtons laws, simple machines) it needs to be small enough to fit in the class room.(and prob bus. i dont get driven) the task should be completed in less than 3 minutes.

you MAY NOT use flames, chemicals etc. do not include offencive material or themes. no electric, live animals, or electronic equipment.


your machine should be constructed from materials you scrouge from home. the total cost for your machine should not exceed $5-$10. you should plan to put the pieces toghter with nails, screws, brackets, wood glue,or hot glue; not tape. the final product should be sturdy and transportable. possible materials: rubber bands, paper towel rolls, mouse traps(spring kind) rulers with grooves, parts of old toys, parts of plastic milk jus, soda bottles, straws, popsicle sticks, scraps of wood, foam board, bottle caps, etc.


any ideas of a simple yet good idea?

darn, i wish we did that in school , sounds like a lot of fun, sorry, no ideas, but im thinking...

does sound fun, the un fun part to me is.

brining it in, setting it up, getting in front of class explaining junk haha

If you want the marble to roll like a coaster, you can use foam pipe insulation.

Also, there's this great image of a machine like this in an I Spy book.

$5-$10? Well, that eliminates anything really fun Actually, I was going to suggest that you go the balloon route, but fill it with hydrogen and use a flame, but then I saw that you aren't allowed to use fire (probably for good reason with the way some kids are).

The possibilities, even with simple machines, are endless, but if you're looking for some inspiration, I know that Purdue hosts a annual Rube Goldberg contest: http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/rube/rube.index.html

Have fun!

I did this last year and we had to pop a balloon. What I did is (If you have the height) I took two cups and tied them together with string and one was weighted. when the marble dropped in the non-weighted cup there was a pin in the bottom which when the cup dropped popped the balloon.

Huh, just use stuff from your garage to build it. You can also get stuff from a hobby shop or from a craft store to make it. Foam board usually would work for a lot of stuff, such as track. Your best route would be to go with either the toothpaste or the bell option. Roll the marble through some track, which activates another marble that dropes into the track, then acivates another marble that goes into a tube, spiraling towards the next marble that gets knocked onto the next section of track, which in turn leads to another marble that either A.) drops down a straight tube onto the tube of toothpaste, or B.) just rings a bell. Should work, if you build it correctly. Hot glue, a sharp kitchen knife, foam board, some straight and/or curved tubing, and time to work. If you can use your own marbles, then buy the heavy ones. There are ones that come in some of those bean toys that weight like 5-6 ounces.

Yeah Purdue is pretty crazy when it comes to their obsession with Rube Goldberg. My advice is to use old toys you might have. Knex, legos, stuff like that would be an easy way to assemble structures. I'd go with popping the balloon too.

[hyyyper]

did something similar 2 years ago, we needed to make a 'stamper', and we had to use at least 20 steps. It's really easy, if you start from the end and design your way back to the beginning

That's not enough $ for materials. I was gonna suggest using pvc pipe to run the marbles. Tose videos were really cool, but the music was annoying as HELL.

[Dirk_Ermen]

try this:

[youtube]lCYg_gz4fDo[/youtube]

^[lol][lol][lol]
That's like SO awesome!

Anywho, I wish we'd do something like this in school! I suggest you use something like Lego bloscks or K'nex or something like that in connection with old toys and scrap materials...

yea dirk, about that haha

Yeah, I've seent that before. Mythbusters is so awesome!